Low-cost flying arrives in luxury-loving Japan NARITA, Japan (AP) — Japan has a reputation for loving expensive things like overpriced real estate, gourmet melons and luxury brands. But the nation is finally discovering the joy of flying cheap, with the arrival this year of three low-cost carriers. The takeoff of AirAsia Japan, Peach Aviation and Jetstar Japan could change lifestyles. No longer will air travel be mostly confined to business trips and fancy once-in-a-lifetime vacations to p...

T-Mobile USA set to merge with MetroPCS BERLIN (AP) — Struggling cellphone companies T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications are set to merge, in a deal that will create an operator with more than 40 million subscribers. In a joint statement, the two companies said Wednesday that Deutsche Telekom AG, the owner of T-Mobile USA, will hold 74 percent of the new business, while MetroPCS’s shareholders will hold the remainder, as well as receiving a payment of about $1.5 billion. “The c...

Vatican police testify in trial of pope’s butler VATICAN CITY (AP) — Members of the Vatican police force have testified that they found thousands of pages of documents — about Freemasonry, secret service security forces and internal Vatican letters — inside the Vatican City apartment of Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler, who is on trial for aggravated theft. Their testimony continues Wednesday in a Vatican courtroom in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, the 46-year-old father of three who faces fo...

US car was targeted in Mexico ambushMEXICO CITY (AP) — A senior U.S. official says there is strong circumstantial evidence that Mexican federal police who fired on a U.S. Embassy vehicle, wounding two CIA officers, were working for organized crime in a targeted assassination attempt. Meanwhile, a Mexican official with knowledge of the case confirmed on Tuesday that prosecutors are investigating whether the Beltran Leyva Cartel was behind the Aug. 24 ambush. The Mexican official ...

Official: Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria BEIRUT (AP) — A Hezbollah commander and several fighters have been killed inside Syria, a Lebanese security official said Tuesday, a development that could stoke already soaring tensions over the Lebanese militant group’s role in the civil war next door. Hezbollah’s reputation has taken a beating over its support for the Syrian regime, but any sign that the group’s fighters are taking part in the battle raises fears that the conflict could exp...

No Syria solution in sight at UN General AssemblyUNITED NATIONS (AP) — After countless speeches, meetings and behind-the-scenes discussions, the war in Syria remained the unsolved problem that loomed over this year’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. As the week-long meeting of the U.N. General Assembly ended Monday, there were no breakthroughs on a civil war that has vexed diplomats, paralyzed the Security Council and raised new questions about the relevance of the United Na...

Israel’s Netanyahu draws his “red line” for IranUNITED NATIONS (AP) — In his most detailed plea to date for global action against Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb. Netanyahu flashed a diagram of a cartoon-like bomb before the U.N. General Assembly showing the progress Iran has made, saying it has already completed the first stage of uranium enrichment....

Rowling launches novel to fanfare, mixed reviewsLONDON (AP) — After months of hype and anticipation, J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults has appeared, swept into the arms of hopeful booksellers and an army of grown-up Harry Potter fans eager to find out what his creator has done next. A gritty and darkly humorous tale of ugly realities in a pretty English village, “The Casual Vacancy” seems a long way from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and reviewers gave it a mixed recep...

Town debates future of house of Hitler’s birthBRAUNAU, Austria (AP) — Living space in Braunau is scarce, but an imposing Renaissance-era building stands empty in this post-card pretty Austrian town because of the sinister shadow cast by a former tenant: Adolf Hitler. With its thick walls, huge arched doorway and deep-set windows, the 500-year-old house near the town square would normally be prime property. Because Hitler was born here, it has become a huge headache for town fathers forced...

Syrian military’s text to rebels: ’Game over’BEIRUT (AP) — Cellphones in Syria rang, buzzed and chirped Thursday with an ominous text message from the military to members of the armed rebellion: “Game over.” The rebels provided their own response to the regime’s warning to surrender and disarm by launching new attacks to drive government troops out of the largest city of Aleppo. There’s no indication that the stalemated civil war has taken a decisive turn in any direction, however, and t...

Egypt’s Morsi assumes major role in MideastUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi assigned himself the heavyweight’s role in the Middle East on Wednesday, declaring in his first speech to the United Nations that the civil war raging in Syria is the “tragedy of the age” and must be brought to an end. In a wide-ranging address that touched on all major issues confronting the region, Morsi also decried Israeli settlement-building on territory Palestinians claim for a f...

Rebels strike Syrian power center with car bombsBEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels struck deep in the fortress-like inner sanctum of President Bashar Assad’s rule Wednesday in Damascus, detonating two car bombs that engulfed the army headquarters in flames. The suicide bombings and subsequent gun battles in the Syrian capital killed at least five people, including a reporter for Iranian TV. The carefully orchestrated attacks highlighted the regime’s growing vulnerability, even as the 18-month batt...

UN chief demands global action to end war in Syria UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded international action to stop the war in Syria, telling a somber gathering of world leaders Tuesday that the 18-month conflict had become “a regional calamity with global ramifications.” In sharp contrast to the U.N. chief, President Barack Obama pledged U.S. support for Syrians trying to oust President Bashar Assad — “a dictator who massacres his own people.” Opening the U.N. General...

Panetta: US surge troops out of AfghanistanAUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Nearly two years after President Barack Obama ordered 33,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to tamp down the escalating Taliban violence, the last of those surge troops have left the country, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday. Panetta said the “surge did accomplish it objectives of reversing the Taliban momentum on the battlefield and dramatically increase the size and capability of the Afghan nation...

Islam vs tolerance debated in Prophet film’s wakeCAIRO (AP) — Behind the anger over a film mocking the Prophet Muhammad, public protest is giving way to measured debate over free speech in the new Muslim world. But while many crave more openness, few if any will go so far as to say that includes the right to blaspheme. Angry shouts of “No, no to America!” and “No to Israel!” have been balanced by voices condemning the weeklong violence that has targeted U.S. and other Western embassies and l...

West accuses Iran of shipping arms to Syria UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The four Western powers trying to rein in Iran’s nuclear program accused Tehran on Thursday of shipping arms to Syria in violation of U.N. sanctions and ignoring demands to open key nuclear facilities to U.N. inspectors. The United States, Britain, France and Germany expressed growing concern that Iran’s goal is building a nuclear arsenal — not nuclear power plants for peaceful civilian use, as Tehran insists. U.S. Ambass...

Syrian activists: airstrikes kill at least 30 BEIRUT (AP) — Regime airstrikes hit a gas station in northern Syria Thursday, setting off a fiery explosion that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens, opposition activists said. Amateur video showed thick black smoke engulfing the scene. Earlier Thursday, a Syrian military helicopter crashed near the capital of Damascus, and Syria’s Information Ministry said the helicopter went down after its rotor accidentally clipped the tail of a Sy...

UK soldier unexpectedly gives birth in Afghanistan LONDON (AP) — Hours after a British soldier in Afghanistan told medics she was suffering from stomach pains, the Royal Artillery gunner unexpectedly gave birth to a boy — the first child ever born to a member of Britain’s armed forces in combat. Britain’s defense ministry said Thursday the soldier told authorities she had not been aware she was pregnant and only consulted doctors on the day that she went into labor. The soldier, who arrived in...

Al-Qaida calls for more attacks on embassies CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida’s most active branch in the Middle East called for more attacks on U.S. embassies Saturday to “set the fires blazing,” seeking to co-opt outrage over an anti-Muslim film even as the wave of protests that swept 20 countries this week eased. Senior Muslim religious authorities issued their strongest pleas yet against resorting to violence, trying to defuse Muslim anger over the film a day after new attacks on U.S. and Weste...